U.S. patent number 4,781,377 [Application Number 06/922,842] was granted by the patent office on 1988-11-01 for hybrid sporting event and game show.
Invention is credited to David R. Kime, Charles D. McVean.
United States Patent |
4,781,377 |
McVean , et al. |
November 1, 1988 |
Hybrid sporting event and game show
Abstract
A method of conducting a racing event and a hybrid sporting
event and game show based on the sporting event. Robotic jockeys
are used to control racing animals, preferably miniature horses or
Hackney ponies, in a racing event made up of one or more races.
Players holding race cards that contain pairings of a race
identification and an indicium identifying an animal in the
corresponding race. The players may win individual races or the
entire event or both, depending upon the outcome of the races, the
content of the race cards held by the players, and other factors.
The animal-identifying indicium borne by each animal may be
selected by chance prior to each race. Race cards may be
distributed in advance of the event, either at the racing facility
where the event is held, at remote locations such as supermarkets,
or both. The event may be broadcast live, and winners may be
present at the event, or in the broadcast audience, or both.
Inventors: |
McVean; Charles D. (Memphis,
TN), Kime; David R. (Memphis, TN) |
Family
ID: |
25447641 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/922,842 |
Filed: |
October 24, 1986 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/58;
119/702 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F
3/00082 (20130101); A63K 3/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63K
3/00 (20060101); A63F 3/00 (20060101); A63F
009/14 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/86R,86A,138R,138A,139,246 ;119/29 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"Ainslie's Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing" by Tom Ainslie,
publ. by Simon & Schuster, N.Y., Copyright 1968, p. 406. .
"Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling" by John Scarne, publ. by
Simon & Schuster, N.Y., Copyright 1974, pp. 174, 175. .
"Kentucky Derby Stakes" Lottery Ticket, 3 pages, 1976. .
"Let's Go To The Races", Television Game, Circa. 1950's..
|
Primary Examiner: Oechsle; Anton O.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Oblon, Fisher, Spivak, McClelland
& Maier
Claims
What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent
of the United States is:
1. A method of conducting a racing event comprising the steps
of:
providing a racing facility;
providing a plurality of animals, each animal bearing a distinct
animal-identifying indicium;
providing a controlling unit of a robotic jockey mounted on and
controlling each animal;
providing remote control means of the robotic jockeys for
controlling each of the controlling units;
providing a plurality of race cards, each race card bearing a
plurality of race pairings, each race pairing including a
race-identifying indicium and a corresponding indicium which is one
of said animal-identifying indicia, no two of said race cards
bearing identical race pairings for every race of the event;
distributing to each of a plurality of players at least one of said
race cards;
using the remote control means and controlling units to conduct a
racing event comprising a plurality of races of at least two of
said animals from a start to a finish;
for each race of the event, declaring one of said animals to be the
winner of the race;
for each race of the event, declaring every race card to be a
winning race card for the race which bears a race pairing
corresponding to the race that includes an animal-identifying
indicium matching the animal-identifying indicium borne by the
winning animal;
declaring an event-winning race card to be a card which has been
declared to be a winning race card for every race of the event.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing a
plurality of animals comprises the step of providing a plurality of
horses.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of providing a
plurality of horses comprises the step of providing a plurality of
miniature horses.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of providing a
plurality of horses comprises the step of providing a plurality of
Hackney ponies.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing a
plurality of animals bearing animal-identifying indicia comprises
the step of selecting the indicium to be borne by each animal by a
process designed to randomize the selection.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of announcing
the results of said selection to the players prior to said at least
one race and after the distribution of the race cards.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of selecting the
animal-identifying indicia comprises the step of conducting said
selection in a manner so as to be witnessed by the players.
8. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of providing
a starting gate and selecting the positions of the animals in the
starting gate by a process designed to randomize the selection.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of announcing
the results of the selection to the players prior to said at least
one race and after the distribution of the race cards.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of selecting the
positions of the animals in the starting gate comprises the step of
conducting said selection in a manner so as to be witnessed by the
players.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of
broadcasting the event to an audience.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the audience includes at least
some of the players.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of distributing race
cards includes the step of distributing at least some of said race
cards to at least some of said players at least one location other
than said racing facility.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of declaring
an event-winning race card to be a card which has been declared to
be a winning race card for every race of the event.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of
declaring an event-winning player to be a player who is a holder of
an event-winning race card.
16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of
declaring an event-winning player to be a player who is both
present at the event and a holder of an event-winning race
card.
17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of
declaring a second place winning race card to be a race card that
has been declared to be a winning race card for a predetermined
number of races that is less than the total number of races of the
event.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of
declaring a second place winning player to be a player who is a
holder of a second place winning race card.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of
declaring a second place winning player to be a player who is both
present at the event and a holder of a second place winning race
card.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of conducting a racing event and
to a hybrid sporting event and game show.
2. Discussion of the Background
It has been known to race animals, especially horses, dogs and the
like, in events in which observers, or players, have a stake in the
outcome and who also observe the event for entertainment.
More recently, there has been developed a remote control apparatus
for controlling animals, referred to herein as a robotic jockey.
Such apparatus comprises a remote control operated by a human
operator and a controlling unit mounted on the animal. Examples of
robotic jockeys are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,193 of Madden
and U.S. patent application No. 792,858 of Kime, filed Oct. 30,
1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,678 the disclosures of which are
hereby incorporated by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention includes a method of conducting a racing event and a
hybrid sporting event and game show based on the sporting event.
Robotic jockeys are used to control racing animals, preferably
miniature horses or Hackney ponies, in a racing event made up of
one or more races. Players hold race cards that contain pairings of
a race identification and an indicium identifying an animal in the
corresponding race. The players may win individual races or the
entire event, or both, depending upon the outcome of the races, the
content of the race cards held by the players, and other factors.
The animal-identifying indicium borne by each animal may be
selected by chance prior to each race. Race cards may be
distributed in advance of the event, either at the racing facility
where the event is held, at remote locations such as supermarkets,
or both. The event may be broadcast live, and winners may be
present at the event, or in the broadcast audience, or both.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a vertical elevation of a controlling unit of a robotic
jockey mounted on a horse;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a remote control of a robotic jockey;
and
FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a race card according to the
current invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary controlling unit 10 of a suitable robotic
jockey, the controlling unit being mounted on an animal 20.
Preferably, animal 20 is a horse but may be any animal suitable for
racing. Most preferably, animal 20 is either a miniature horse or a
Hackney pony. A miniature horse, according to accepted breeder
definition, is a horse having a height of no more than thirty-four
inches at the withers and not exhibiting any evidence of
dwarfism.
Miniature horses were used long ago for drawing small carriages and
for work in mine tunnels. More recently, they have been bred for
show and for pets. But miniature ponies and Hackney ponies are too
small to be ridden by adult jockeys, and the Hackneys are too
spirited for a child to manage. However, with the development of
the comparatively light-weight robotic jockey, the inventor
conceived the idea of racing these animals and has found that they
are excellent racers and can be well controlled by using a robotic
jockey according to the above-cited patent application of Kime.
An additional advantage of using a robotic jockey and miniature
horses or Hackney ponies is that, in comparison to racing full-size
horses such as thoroughbreds, more races may be conducted in the
same period of time. A preferred format according to the current
invention is to conduct eight races within an hour, a feat that
would be very difficult using standard racing horses and human
jockeys.
Also shown in FIG. 1 is animal-identifying indicium 30, which may
be a number, as shown, or may be any other means of visual
identification such as a color, a combination of colors, a pattern,
or the like. The animal-identifying indicium 30 is distinct for
each horse in a race of an event.
An event is made up of at least one, preferably more, races.
Currently, the inventor prefers to conduct eight races of five
horses each. The race may be of any kind that is conducted between
a start and a finish. Even steeplechase races are possible; the
inventor has found that miniature horses wearing robotic jockeys
can be made to jump hurdles.
During each race, the actions of the animal are controlled by an
operator by using a remote control 40, an example of which is
illustrated in FIG. 2.
Shown in FIG. 3 is a race card 50 according to the current
invention. Pre-printed on each of a plurality of race cards 50 are
one race pairing 60 for each race to be run in the event. In the
example shown, there are eight race pairings 60 corresponding to
eight races in an event.
Each race pairing 60 comprises a race-identifying indicium 70,
which preferably is a number used to identify a particular one of
the races, and an animal-identifying indicium 80 which is one of
the animal-identifying indicia that will be borne by the animals
during the race. For convenience, these indicia will be called the
race number and the horse number, respectively.
The race cards 50 preferably are distributed to players in advance
of the event. Players attending the event may receive one or more
race cards upon their arrival. More preferably, the race cards are
distributed for a number of days in advance of the event at
locations remote from the racing facility where the event will be
held, such as retail stores and other commercial establishments.
For example, one or more race cards may be given to a retail
customer.
Preferably, the event is broadcast live to an audience, as by
radio, over-the-air television and, most preferably, cable
television. Because a player may be among the audience rather than
in attendance at the event, a race card holder may watch the event
in real time at a remote location and determine if he is a
winner.
Because the horse numbers 80 are pre-printed on the game cards 50,
winning a race involves no measure of predictive skill on the part
of the player. In addition to the possibility of holding a winning
race card, further interest may be added by injecting into the game
additional elements of uncertainty. In particular, before each
race, the particular horse number to be borne by each horse in the
race may be selected by any process designed to randomize the
selection, such as a drawing. It will be understood that the word
"randomize" is here used to describe any process that will assure
that the selection is heavily influenced by chance, and that the
word is not intended to be confined to its more narrow mathematical
definition.
An additional advantage of such a procedure is that, where one of
the horses is known to be a favorite, the selection of the number
for that horse will itself be a matter of particular interest for
the race card holders. Accordingly, it is desirable for the
selection to be accomplished in such a manner as to be witnessed by
the players and for the resulting matchings of number and horse to
be announced.
Preferably, a starting gate is provided for the horses, and there
may be added an even further element of uncertainty and interest by
assigning the positions in the gate by a similar process designed
to randomize the selection of starting position. When the
animal-identifying indicia are numbers that correspond to gate
positions, the same drawing or other process can be used both to
assign the numbers to the horses and the horses to the gates. For
example, the number one horse would start in the most-advantageous
number one gate, and so forth.
Typically, prizes of varying value will be given, including one
grand prize. In such a case, it is desirable to provide that the
plurality of race cards can produce only one winner of the entire
event. In such a case, only one race card may bear the number of
the winning horse in every race. To achieve such a result, each
race card must be unique.
For example, if an event is made up of eight races of five horses
each, there can be produced five to the eighth power (390,625)
unique race cards such that only one of those race cards will bear
the number of the winning horse in every race. After the results of
the event are known, this one race card will be declared to be the
event-winning race card. Accordingly, the holder of this race card
(assuming it has been given out during the distribution of the race
cards) is declared the winner of the event and is awarded the grand
prize.
If desired, it may be required that the holder of the event-winning
card (or of any other lesser winning card, as described below) be
present to win. Preferably, because it is contemplated that the
event be broadcast, the holder need not be present to win. If no
holder of the event-winning race card is identified, the winner of
the event may be chosen by a drawing or by a post-event run-off
race, possibly on a later date.
Race cards that have been declared to be winning race cards for
some but not all of the races of an event may be declared second
and third place winning race cards. For example, second place
winning race cards may be declared to be those bearing the numbers
of seven winning horses out of eight. Furthermore, prizes may be
awarded to holders of race cards which have been declared winning
race cards for a predetermined number of races in a row.
* * * * *